The Labour Government has been branded “disgusting” ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s Budget next week after a pensioner blasted Sir Keir Starmer over the decision to scrap Winter Fuel Payments.
Reeves is set to unveil even more unrest for Britain’s elderly in her first Budget announcement on October 30, including a potential cut to tax-free pension withdrawals.
In her starkest warning yet, Reeves told Britons that taxes “will need to rise” in the coming months, and Labour is facing “tough decisions on spending and welfare”.
Speaking to GB News, pensioner Barry Bridge spoke to Patrick Christys in County Durham as part of a Budget special, and expressed his deep concerns about the impact the cuts will have on OAPs this winter.
Barry Bridge hit out at Labour’s decision to cut the Winter Fuel Payment for millions of pensioners
GB News
Bridge told Patrick: “I think it’s disgusting, because a lot of old people are going to die. Let’s face it, a lot of people don’t have a lot of money. They’ve only got their state pensions and they’re struggling to manage on them.
“The Winter Fuel Payments were a big help, but when they get stopped, the elderly people are going to die.”
Highlighting how the winter months will also affect younger families in Britain, Bridge noted that rising energy bills means people will have to “decide whether to heat or eat”.
Bridge claimed: “A lot of young families are going to struggle, because they don’t know whether to feed the kids or put the heating on.
Rachel Reeves will unveil her first Budget next weekPA“Children have to be kept warm, and if you don’t put the heating on, the children are going to be cold and some fragile children are going to die.”
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
When asked by Patrick for his thoughts on how elderly people are treated by the Government, Bridge admitted: “I don’t think how we’re treated is good enough.
“In other countries, elderly people are sort of like revered, like China. They look after the elderly families look after the elderly. A lot of families do here, but there’s a lot of families that don’t.”
Recalling his experience of visiting the care home to see his wife for more than seven years, Bridge noted that many residents in the home “do not get visitors”.
Bridge said: “I go to the care home every day to see my wife – I have done for seven and a half years – and there’s people in there, elderly people, who don’t get visitors.
Barry Bridge spoke to Patrick Christys on GB News, live from County Durham
GB News
“There’s men and women in there that have families that don’t get visitors, you know? It’s shocking.”
Bridge, who worked down the pit for a large portion of his life, told Patrick about the many injuries he endured and how he had “several close calls” with death.
Bridge revealed: “The first one was when I was 18 and a half, I was hit in the face with a coal shot, I was blinded for a month.
“And then I was crushed by a big stone later on, and the last one, we had about four and a half tons of steel fall on us, and I damaged my spine. My pelvis was split right up, my right leg broke below the knee and my right ankle was crushed.”
Patrick has also set up a JustGiving fundraising page, to help raise money for Friends of the Elderly, which has raised over £250,000 so far.
To support the cause and make a donation, visit Patrick’s JustGiving page HERE.